Click here to go to the next issue
Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nondual Highlights each day
#1521 - Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - Editor: Jerry
Summer, by David Hodges http://www.livejournal.com/users/wandertheearth
Ben Hassine
NDS
After the Absolute, by Dave Gold with Bart Marshall.
In the winter of 1973 I encountered a strange and enigmatic man from West Virginia named Richard Rose and nothing has been the same for me since. I was in my first year of law school at the time, living at home with my mother to save on expenses and keep her company, my father having died suddenly two years before. One night my friend Leigh, who had recently been spending a lot of time with a group called the Pyramid Zen Society, talked me into going with him to hear Rose, whom he called a Zen master. I had refused several previous attempts on Leigh’s part to get me to a meeting, but he persisted, and each time he brought it up his descriptions and stories of Rose became more superlative, until Rose had begun to take on a magical, almost mythic, quality.
Entire book online at http://www.onzen.com/atatitle.htm
Chris Damitio
GonzoBeats
Skald...I can totally relate. I've tried so many
different jobs that seemed so promising and ended up
being nothing but a glorified money chase for some
blood sucking wannabe millionaire. The first time I
went in Barnes and Noble I was in awe...it was the
largest bookstore I'd been in yet. As my trips became
more frequent I noticed more and more the garbage that
lined the shelves...seemed like they sold more
cliffnotes than classics and the yuppies sipping their
espresso didn't seem to be reading so much as looking
for someone to see them reading and get themselves a
feeling of being a part of the aritassholocracy that
seems to thrive there. The whole concept of a
corporaate bookstore started to rub against my
consciousness and soon I couldn't even pass the place
on the freeway without feeling Sartres nausea and
wondering if the self educated man would lose IQ
points if he were to read the chicken soup for the
pathetic soul series...I can't imagine working there.
To start with the ideal of working in a giant
bookstore and instead find that your "superiors" only
seem to read the rulebooks and whatever Oprah may be
suggesting....
svcs
I Am list
Question: What is Guru's grace? How does it lead to
Self-realisation?
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Guru is the Self. Sometimes in his life a
man
becomes dissatisfied and not content with what he has, he seeks
the
satisfaction of his desires through prayer to God. His mind is
gradually purified until he longs to know God, more to obtain his
grace than to satisfy his worldly desires. Then, God's grace
begins
to manifest. God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the
devotee,
teaches him the truth and, moreover, purifies his mind by
association. The devotee's mind gains strength and is then able
to
turn inward. By meditation it is further purified and it remains
still without the least ripple. That calm expanse is the Self.
The Guru is both external and internal. From the exterior he
gives a
push to the mind to turn it inwards. From the interior he pulls
the
mind towards the Self and helps in the quietening of the mind.
That
is Guru's grace. There is no difference between God, Guru and the
Self.
Hari Aum !!!
Yosy responds:
so very true... "a thorn is removed by another, then both
are discarded..."
the mistaken identity of self with one's form has to be removed
by another
form - the guru. when through the grace the contact with the
inner self/guru
is well established, both forms are naturally discarded and the
formless
self remains as it always was...
jai ramana!
yosy
Thomas Murphy See What Is
temporality
I do not negate the world.
I see it as appearing in consciousness,
which is the totality of the known
in the immensity of the unknown.
What begins and ends is mere appearance.
The world can be said to appear,
but not to "be."
The appearance may last very long on some scale of
time,
and be very short on another,
but ultimately it comes to the same.
Whatever is time bound is momentary
and has no reality.
--Nisargadatta
What's known as the world
isn't unreal.
It's simply an appearance in consciousness,
for consciousness is the vehicle of knowing.
Duration and extent are relativistic properties
of the objects of consciousness.
They're relativistic because they vary
according to point of view.
For example,
from the point of view of a perceiving human
a lifetime may be regarded as quite lengthy.
Yet that same human may note
that within the genesis of the cosmos
the lifetime of the sun is but a fleeting flash.
What's clear from this
is that consciousness is rooted in imagination
neurally based in an organic host
that is born, perceives and dies
within the context of a host awareness
that transcends all such individual events.
tomas
10aug03
cwutiz
Dennis Waite
Advaitin
Ananda Wood writings
Just a note to say that Ananda Wood has kindly agreed to my
hosting his
books and essays at - www.advaita.org.uk/ananda_wood.htm.
There are a number of essays relating to:
* language and Bhartrihari's levels of sound
* states of consciousness
* the classic five elements
* OM and the mANDUkya upaniShad
* a comparison of the objective scientific method and the
subjective, inward
approach of philosophical enquiry.
His two books are also available for download - 'From the
Upanishads' and
'Interpreting the Upanishads'. These are modern interpretations
yet also
compare old translations, going back to specific Sanskrit words
to elicit
explanatory comments. Excerpts have been chosen from a number of
the
upaniShad-s and these are provided under categorised headings
such as 'Death
and the Unconscious', 'Perception', 'Meditation', 'Self and the
Absolute',
'The Knowing Self'. The two books are downloadable as
linked PDF files so
that they may be easily cross-referenced on-line. The books are
out of print
at present so that this is an excellent opportunity to gain
access to them.
Very highly recommended.
Ananda writes with tremendous clarity and perception. He has a
degree in
Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and a doctorate in
Anthropology. He is a
disciple of Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon, whose spiritual
Discourses he is
currently editing.
Best wishes,
Dennis
Jeff Belyea's new list:
Natural Enlightenment
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturalenlightenment/
Briefly, Natural Enlightenment and Natural Wellness books and
seminars teach that our natural estate is an enlightened one. A
return or reawakening to this natural enlightenment brings an
experience of pure joy and a clear understanding of our purpose
and place in this life.
While this is implicitly a discussion group, the explicit purpose
is to offer a teaching about, and methodology for, approaching
our natural enlightenment.
While there is a nondual appreciation underlying the teachings,
an inclusive theistic language will often be used in presenting
the teachings here. To those who now enjoy the grace of this
natural enlightenment in their life (by whatever terms and in
whatever tradition), and to those are comfortable reading the
teachings of a Bakti Yogi, Christian, who has taken a Bodhisattva
vow and who's satguru is Jesus, welcome. Questions and discussion
points are also welcome.
Jan Sultan NDS
Shakespeare had got it so right
It is so obvious to me now
I see through every act, every costume
I see your real Self smiling, winking back at me ...
On the surface pretending to suffer,
pretending to seek
deep down, enjoying the whole pretence game
Transparency has removed the urgency in every act
It has removed the sting from suffering
It has made bliss and happiness loose their appeal
Acceptance, surrender or non-acceptance,
What are they to me now?
Just more games, more postures
Attachment, non-attachment, detachment ...
Duality, non-duality, spirituality ...
More of the same.
All your philosophy, all those concepts
all your arguments and debates
mere words, words and more words ...
Sorry to disappoint you but even your favorite
Ramana ... What an actor, what an act
Lying there almost naked ... ha ha ha!